


Lead Me to Love

by ellacj



Series: 52 Weeks of Swan Queen [39]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Enchanted Forest, F/F, Swan Hood, Teenagers, they're smol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-04
Updated: 2015-10-04
Packaged: 2018-04-24 16:35:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4927051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellacj/pseuds/ellacj
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Sometimes it's the journey that teaches you a lot about your destination."</p><p>-Drake</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lead Me to Love

**Author's Note:**

> i'm working on week 40 as we speak so i might actually be caught up soon!!

The first thing Emma notices about the girl at the end of her arrow is the fact that she’s wearing a wedding gown.

The second thing Emma notices about the girl at the end of her arrow is that she’s been crying. Her eyes are puffy and red and dark makeup sticks to her face in thick, black clumps. “Please,” she sobs. “Please, no.”

Emma narrows her eyes. “Wait a second. I know you.” She tilts her head and examines the girl’s face. “Regina. The king’s young wife.”

“We haven’t actually gotten married yet,” Regina mumbles, head tilted down so her chin almost touches her chest.

“Clearly.” Emma doesn’t lower her arrow. If she was uneasy before, this is completely different. She’s never trusted royals. “What are you doing in my woods?”

“These woods belong to King Leopold.”

Emma scoffs. “Maybe in title. But like it or not, these woods are mine, _princess_.”

“I’m not a princess.”

“No, of course you aren’t.” Her hand tenses around the string of her bow, pulling it ever tighter. “Shouldn’t you be at your wedding?” She gestures to Regina’s gown with a tilt of her head.

“I couldn’t go through with it.”

“So you figured you’d escape through Sherwood Forest?” Emma chuckles. “I knew you were young, but I never imagined you could be _that_ naïve.”

Something seems to click in Regina’s mind and she looks up with eyes wider than a doe’s. “Swan Hood,” she breathes.

“You got me.” As easy as it would be to keep playing with this girl, Emma’s human side speaks up and she lowers her bow with a sigh. Regina’s clearly terrified; there’s no threat to be found here. “Let me help you find your way.”

“What?”

Emma stows the arrow back in her quiver and holds her bow close to her side. “I’ve heard a lot of things about King Leopold. You don’t deserve to be married to that. I’ll help you through Sherwood, but then you’re on your own.”

Regina breaks into a radiant grin. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

“Don’t mention it. Seriously.” Emma smirks. “I have to keep some air of terror around my name.” She slings her bow over her shoulder and starts walking away from the palace, Regina rustling loudly in the underbrush behind her.

“So. How did you end up an infamous bandit?” Regina asks.

“Had to take care of myself somehow. But Granny’ll tell you it’s because I didn’t have any mother to teach me right from wrong.”

“Your grandmother?”

“Not really. She runs the tavern in the village where I live. I’m good friends with her granddaughter, and she sort of took me in.”

Regina smiles as she moves to walk beside Emma. “I wish I had someone like her.”

“You don’t have parents either?”

“No, I do. That that they were any good at teaching me right from wrong.”

Emma nods. “That’s pretty clear, considering your mom’s trying to marry you off to some crusty old man. I mean, you can’t be more than twenty.”

“Eighteen.”

“Me, too.”

“Really?” Regina frowns. “The stories made you sound so much older.”

Emma reaches up and pulls her hood down to reveal her soft face and blonde curls tied in a ponytail that’s falling out in places. “I’ve been at this since I was fourteen. Had to survive somehow, you know?”

“I know.”

They spend the next few minutes in comfortable silence, Emma leading Regina down the winding path through the trees she knows will lead to her village. Once they get close enough to hear voices, Emma stops. “Clean your face,” she says, reaching into her leather bag and pulling out a rag to hand to Regina.

Regina wipes her face clean of smeared blackness. “Thank you.” She returns the rag to Emma.

“You should get rid of that gown, too. It reeks of royalty.”

“I don’t have anything else to wear.”

Emma pulls her knife from the hilt at her waist. “Hold still.” She grabs a fistful of Regina’s thick satin skirts and saws through the fabric until it finally falls free from the rest. After a few minutes, the heavy white satin is lying on the forest ground and Regina stands in a newly shortened dress. “Here, put this on over it.” Emma unclasps her cloak and slips it off of her shoulders, holding it out to Regina.

“Are you sure? Don’t you need this?”

“They won’t trust you if you look like you come from money. Besides, they know me here. The real me.”

Regina smiles and drapes the cloak around her shoulders, fastening it around her neck and flipping the hood up over her head. “Thank you.”

Emma smiles. She turns and leads Regina out of the trees and into the bustle of the small village she’s finally learned to call home. “I’ll take you to Granny’s tavern. You look like you could use something to eat.”

As if on cue, Regina’s stomach releases a loud rumble and her cheeks flush pink. Emma, to her credit, simply grins and takes Regina’s hand to tug her along at an even faster pace.

“Red!” Emma calls as she pushes through the door of a small tavern.

The barmaid, a slender girl with brown curls and wide eyes, glances up with a grin. “It’s about damn time.” She sets down the tray of beer tankards she’s holding and crosses the tavern to fling her arms around Emma. When she pulls back, she glances at Regina with an arched eyebrow. “You’re gone for a week and you bring back a girl? That’s impressive, even for you, Em.”

Emma’s face burns bright red. “This is Regina,” she says, dropping Regina’s hand even as she speaks. “She’s trying to get out of the kingdom. I’m just helping her on her way.”

“Wow, you really must be special,” Red says to Regina. “Normally she shoots on sight.”

“I’m just not looking to start any wars today.”

“What are you…” Red trails off until recognition flashes in her eyes. “Shit,” she whispers. “You’re Leopold’s girl.”

Emma takes Red’s bicep in her hand. “Don’t tell anyone, okay? Just get her something to eat so she can get on her way.”

“Why are you helping her? She’s one of them.”

“She’s not. Why do you think she’s running?”

Red stands there a moment, staring at Regina with narrowed eyes, before finally turning around and stalking back to the kitchen without another word.

Regina lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “That could have gone much worse.”

“Relax. Red’s like my sister. We can trust her.”

“Could have fooled me.”

Red chooses that moment to return with a small covered basket that she thrusts into Regina’s hands. “Should last you a few days.”

“Thank you.”

Emma smiles gratefully at Red before walking out of the tavern with Regina in tow. “I’ll show you the rest of the way.” She points down the trail through the woods toward the next village over. “Follow this path until you reach the next village. Ask them to guide you to the shore, and once you get there you can go anywhere you want. Just make sure you don’t reveal yourself.”

Regina turns to face her with nerves dancing in her eyes. “You’re staying here?”

“Do you want me to come with you?”

“I’m just afraid I’ll get lost. I don’t know these woods.”

Emma glances behind her at the people walking in and out of Granny’s tavern and says a slow mental goodbye. She may be gone from here a while. “I guess I can manage a walk to the shore.”

Regina breaks into a wide grin. She grips the basket of food in her left hand and loops her right through Emma’s arm. “Then let’s go.” And together, the two of them take their first steps toward the sparkling blue sea.

**Author's Note:**

> and this piece marks three-quarters of the challenge already behind me. it's crazy, you guys. this year has flown by.


End file.
